Heart of Ice
by life always gets in the way
Summary: Snow is so much more than just frozen water.
1. Darkness

Khione had never feared the dark.

Rather, she reveled in it. After all, the poles were the coldest places on Earth and they never saw the sun for half the year. Winter was a time of darkness, and she was the goddess of snow.

She was born for the dark. Maybe if she was the goddess of sand or something, she would be perfectly nice and hate the dark like all good little gods.

But now, as she paced her father's throne room and yelled at the servants to just _go away,_ a bit of fear crept into her brain. Tartarus was dark. Maybe when she'd been judged by the Olympian court, they'd throw her into that pit, never to return. She'd betrayed them, after all. The darkness had swept her away. She was evil. Now that she'd lost, the doubts came. she'd been so confident Gaea would win and she would be powerful.

The allure of darkness was the power that came with it. She had so much resentment, and she had so much potential. Khione paced more and shut all thoughts from her brain as the messenger called, "It's time."


	2. Gods

The thing Khione hated most about demigods was how they were so utterly devoted to the Olympians. She would never invoke those who had done nothing for her.

That was why she threw her tab in with Gaea. The Olympians ignored her. Neglected her. If she faded, they wouldn't even look twice. Khione hated gods. Not her father, he was her father. Not the other minor gods. The Olympians, with their thrones and their mountain top above the Empire state building and their stuck-up attitude.

If you asked a mortal about Khione, they'd say "Who?" and blink. That wasn't the case with Athena or Poseidon or whoever. Even Hades and Hestia were recognized. Not her.

The gods had treated her badly for millennia. When Gaea asked, Khione didn't think twice.


	3. Love

Love was something Khione had never known. Call her callous and cruel. Khione didn't care. She had a heart of ice. Maybe even literally. But sometimes, she wished she didn't.

She cared about her father. She even cared about her idiot brothers. But Khione did not _love._ She was supposed to have the ever-cold facade. That didn't mean Khione was a monster.

Khione stared into the face of the handsome demigod, Jason maybe, and thought how nice it would be to have a new toy for the collection. But when he took the hand of the Aphrodite-spawn, she felt a pang of some unknown emotion. She told them to separate. Nothing warm in the house of Boreas.

It wasn't that. She hated the girl for a reason. The reason was she loved Jason. She wasn't going to freeze him forever. She wanted to freeze Piper.

It was only fitting that her downfall should be the child of love. But Piper didn't know that she was part of a love triangle. Khione loved Jason. That was something so strange and repulsive and unfathomable. But she felt relief when he survived.

And he survived to kiss Piper. Khione had never been so alone. She knew why she had kept herself so closed off. It was better not to feel at all than to feel and be broken. Khione squared her shoulders, picked up her pride, and resolved never to love again.


	4. Toys

"Khione, do you want a toy?" When Boreas said those fateful words, Khione's entire being changed. She could have been a benevolent goddess, caring for the people. But when she saw the frozen warrior, she was hooked. All she wanted was another toy, and young Khione was determined to get one.

She never thought she'd fall in love with a boy destined to become yet another toy. When he was spared, she was glad. And then she thought about Gaea. Jason fell from her mind. She headed out to get more toys.

She saw Jason again and didn't care. Her father's collection grew and grew at Khione's anger taken out on innocent mortals.

Innocent mortals. She stepped back from her latest creation and recoiled. Innocent mortals. Her toys were just that. Innocent mortals. Not toys.


	5. Fire

_Water douses fire but fire melts snow. Water douses fire but fire melts snow. Water douses fire but fire melts snow. Water douses fire but fire melts snow._ Khione whispered the mantra over and over again until her mouth refused to form the words. She rose up and punched the Leo Valdez dummy, glaring at it like it was the real thing. His fire melted her snow.

She hated it, fire. Fire meant warmth. Warmth meant melting. Melting meant a loss of power. Warmth was the opposite of cold. The cold was what she stood for.

Their personalities matched them, she realized. She, Khione, the snow goddess, was cold and aloof. (Cold, she liked that word.) He, Leo, the son of the fire god, was friendly. (Who needed friends? Her brothers were enough. They were cold, just like her.) Khione wished she was water to douse the flame.

At the Wolf House, fire met ice and fire won.

Khione was fuming. She hated the word. It suggested fire. She vowed to destroy Leo Valdez. And she nearly did. But then, he fell for Calypso. And Piper destroyed her, with the fire of the dragon.

Khione may have loved Jason Grace. But to the depths of her heart, she absolutely hated his best friend. And Jason's best friend had won.

Khione really hated to lose. Especially to fire.


	6. Light

Light spread across the snowy landscape. Khione stood in a cyclone of wind and snow, and watched the sun creep up to the top of the sky. Icicles hung off a snow-blanketed bush. Light should suggest fire to her, but it did not.

Sure, in spring, the snow melted, (taking her with it), and flowed to the crisp cool streams. But in winter the light illuminated Khione's greatest creations.

There is beauty in harshness, the snow goddess thought. Landscape paintings commonly included snow. Bless the painters, in summer Khione could hang onto some of her power. Light also came in the aurora borealis, named after her father and caused by him. Aurora borealis was at the heart of her season in the coldest places.

So Khione had differing opinions about light. It was beautiful but deadly (to the snow of course). Just like her.


	7. Beauty

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Always has been, always will be. Khione thought the power of evil beautiful, in some twisted way.

Somehow, the ice that froze people to death was beautiful. It was Khione's ice. She caused so many deaths over the centuries. And she regretted it. But it was beautiful.

In a strange way, to Khione, screams were music and blood was pure. She hated that inside her, the darkness had completely taken over. Even beauty had twisted itself to her darkness. Even death gods were more merciful than the ice princess.

Did remorse make Khione beautiful inside again? She had done wrong. And she regretted it to the bottom of her heart. But no regret would fix Khione's broken ideals of beauty.


	8. Worry

"Zethes!"

"Yes, sister?"  
"Why in Tartarus did you go and attack those demigods, nearly getting yourself killed?"  
"They were threatening the cause, and I'm immortal."  
"Don't remind me."  
"Immortality is great! Immortality is fun!"  
"Shut _up_ Zethes!"

"Never, Khione!"  
"You did get yourself beat by puny scum, brother."  
"I was not beat!"

"Oh, yes you were."  
"They cheated."  
"I was just worried, okay?"  
"Why would you be worried?"  
"I love you, brother. Even though you constantly annoy me, I love you. And I worry. You're immortal, sure, but cut up in tiny pieces and rotting in Tartarus is no way to live."  
"Khione?"  
"Yes, brother?"  
"It's nice to know you care."


	9. Friends

Khione frowned as she saw the little mortal children throwing around their ball on the street filled with a manifestation of her power. She could tell they were friends. Khione never had any friends.

Mortal lives were so short, and they were beneath her anyway. Her only companions were always her ice sculptures and her brothers, who couldn't rightfully be called friends. If Jason had loved her back, she would have gladly preserved him in her palace upon the ice, not as a sculpture but as a god, her lover for eternity. But alas!

The other gods were no friends. They ignored her, or they feared her. Two options. She had no friends. Perhaps her heart was too black. Her heart of ice must be too hard for any friend to pierce. She wanted friends, now, seeing the devotion of the Seven to one another. But she would be forever alone.

A price to pay for her heart of ice.


	10. Dream

Khione had a secret.

Every night, when she let Morpheus take her far, far, away into the land of dreams, she dreamed the same dream. Over and over and over again, returning faithfully like a guard dog, like her brothers. It was one thing she could count on. Her world was chaos, but her dream was always there to comfort her in her moments of greatest darkness.

Yes, Khione had a dream. She never told anyone about her dream. There was no one to confide in. Khione was good at keeping things hidden deep within herself. When Khione slept, she saw color. Swirling in a vibrant rainbow around a black dot. The colors would spin faster and faster until the dot became a circle. Inside that circle were three figures: a dog, a cat, and the daughter of the king of Athens, Oreithyia.  
When Khione dreamed, she saw her mother. Her mother had long deserted them, of course. Oreithyia had gone to France and stayed there, forever. Khione remembered hearing her mother had faded. Hot, unfamiliar tears ran down her cheeks as she mourned the distant mother she never knew she loved.

Khione couldn't explain the animals. There was no reason at all for them to be there. Yet she found them strangely comforting. Like they were pets. She didn't know exactly why she had that dream, but she had it.

Khione had a dream.

But she hid it well.


End file.
